Because of increasing power densities, more compact designs and new fields of use, it is to be expected that the working temperatures of semiconductor chips will increase further in the future. If the semiconductor chips are mounted on a circuit carrier with the aid of a connecting medium, the connecting medium must also comply with greater requirements in terms of thermal load-bearing capacity. Similar considerations apply not only for semiconductor chips, but also for the thermally stable connection of any other assembly partners to a metallization layer.
Recently, the soft solder compounds conventionally used as connecting media have been replaced increasingly with connecting layers which contain a sintered metal powder. Such sintering compounds have a higher mechanical stability at high application temperatures than soft solder compounds. During the production of such sintering compounds, however, the problem often arises that the process environment is contaminated by metal powder.